freedom of expression

A former US Senate Intelligence Committee aide was arrested Thursday in an investigation of classified information leaks where prosecutors also secretly seized years’ worth of a New York Times reporter’s phone and email records. James A. Wolfe was charged with lying repeatedly to investigators about his contacts with three reporters, including Times reporter Ali Watkins, who had been in a three-year relationship with Wolfe. A prosecutor notified Watkins on February 13 that the Justice Department had years of customer records and subscriber information from telecommunications companies, including Google and Verizon, for two email accounts and a phone number of hers. Investigators did not obtain the content of the messages themselves.

Brazil's Congress this week approved legislation allowing parties and political candidates to force social media to immediately withdraw anonymous content deemed offensive or somehow defamatory. The law is being harshly criticized by civil liberties and freedom of expression groups. Under the law, social media will need to provide the identification and social security number of authors to keep their comments online.